What is Facebook Workplace?

From October onward, companies will be able to take advantage of a new version of Facebook built especially for organisations – but they’ll have to pay for the privilege.

Facebook Workplace takes the social network’s most essential components – including user profiles, personalised news feeds, groups, search, events, chat and calls – and packages them as a new cloud-based enterprise software product, optimised and secured for internal and B2B corporate comms.

How does Facebook Workplace differ from regular Facebook?

Perhaps the key distinction is that Facebook Workplace provides a secure space for each organisation, entirely separate from the regular Facebook. Think of it as Facebook performing a similar role to Slack. It’s also ad-free, which, in theory, should mean people who rely on Facebook for professional communications will have less to distract them from their work.

And not only does Workplace promise to offer an airtight environment for each organisation; it also promises to safeguard the intellectual property rights of its users. As Julian Codorniou, the global director of Facebook’s new product, told WIRED: “Workplace is completely separate from Facebook and is a subscription-based model – the data belongs to the employer, company and employees, not Facebook.”

Workplace doesn’t offer much in the way of innovations – rather, it offers a slick new spin on the classic Facebook code.

What was that about paying for the privilege?

“It’s free and always will be”, says Facebook’s sign-up screen.

Except, of course, if you are referring to Facebook Workplace. After a three-month free trial period, use of Workplace will be priced as follows, per user, per month:

$3 – up to 1,000 monthly active users

$2 –1,001 – 10,000 monthly active users

$1 –10,001+ monthly active users

Workplace is available free-of-charge to non-profits and educational institutions.

Members of registered organisations can access the software as an app (Android or iPhone), or in-browser. Much like regular Facebook, Facebook Workplace is split up into two apps – Workplace and Workplace chat.

Hasn’t this thing been around for a while?

Workplace has been available privately to a selection of major organisations for the last year or so, under the name ‘Facebook at Work’. The earliest versions of Workplace served Facebook’s own employees.

Facebook announced Workplace’s global launch in a blog post on October 10th. The software is now available to organisations everywhere, though there’s no guarantee your application will be accepted.